consolidating governmental early childhood education...

Consolidating Governmental Early Childhood Education and CareServices Under the Ministry of Education and Science:

A Swedish Case Study

Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, Stockholm Institute of EducationIngmarie Munkammar, Luleå University of Technology

U N E S C O

Early Childhood and Family Policy Series n°6

April 2003

This study was planned, guided and sponsored by UNESCO within the framework of itsmacro early childhood policy development programme.

AcknowledgementsThe authors wish to thank Ms. Barbara Martin Korpi and Ulf P. Lundgren for their

time and patience in giving interviews for this study; Ms. Korpi for her comments on the

draft; Mr. Brian Turner for his editing and Ms. Soo Hyang Choi of UNESCO for her

comments on the final text.

Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, Ph.D. in Education, is a researcher and assistant professor at the

Stockholm Institute of Education, Department of Human Development, Special

Education and Learning, P.O. Box 47308, SE-100 74 Stockholm, Sweden

([email protected])

Ingmarie Munkammar, Ph.D. in Education, is a researcher and assistant professor at

the Luleå University of Technology, the Centre for Research in Learning, SE-971 87

Luleå, Sweden. ([email protected])

The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in

this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of

UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

Contributions to this series are welcomed and should be addressed for review to EarlyChildhood and Family Policy series, at the address given below.

Additional copies of this monograph can be obtained from:

Early Childhood and Family Education SectionED/BAS/ECF, UNESCO7 Place de Fontenoy75352 Paris 07 SP, FRANCE

http://www.education.unesco.org/educprog/ecf/index.htm

(ED-2003/WS/12)Printed in UNESCO’s workshop.

http://www.education.unesco.org/educprog/ecf/index.htm

Contents

I. The context in which early childhood education and care was integrated 5under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science

1.1 Overview of early childhood education in Sweden today 5

1.2 Early political interest in the education and care of pre-school children 7

1.3 Pre-schooling as a right of the child 10

1.4 Pre-schooling guidelines preceding the first curriculum of 1998 11

1.5 Important notions and reforms preceding the integration of pre-school 12 and compulsory schooling

II. The integration of early childhood education into a universal system 16of lifelong learning

2.1 Rationales for integration 16

2.2 The process and transition at ministerial level 17

2.3 The process and transition at the local level 21

2.4 Consequences and impacts 23

2.5 Changes in the meaning of educational concepts 25

2.6 Lessons and implications of Sweden’s integration 28

2.7 Update on the Commission for New Pre-school / School Law 31

III. References 32

Abstract

This report presents a case study of the process begun in Sweden in 1996 to integrateearly childhood education and care under the auspices of the Ministry of Education andScience. It outlines the reforms that preceded the integration, the concepts prevailing inthe field at the time, the rationales behind the reform, the process itself, and its impactand consequences. With formal integration at the ministerial level, early childhoodeducation and care shifted from the arena of social and family affairs to the educationalsphere. Debate has persisted since the 1940s over whether pre-schooling is an activitybelonging primarily to care or education. The view that it belongs to both realms tippedthe balance heavily towards childcare up until the new millennium. Through thereforms of 2001 and 2002, pre-school finally became a right for all children in Swedishsociety, irrespective of whether their parents were unemployed or on parental leave. In2002, fee structures were reformed, and the following year, four- and five-year-oldswon the right to 525 hours of free pre-schooling year. These reforms bring Sweden evercloser to the ideal of universal pre-schooling as the first stage of lifelong learning, agoal that has been pursued for nearly 100 years. In a highly decentralised yet regulatedcountry, the processes, consequences and impacts differ significantly among Sweden’s289 municipalities. The integration of the two school forms was the result of a well-planned process with a strong pedagogical rationale in some municipalities, while inothers the rationale was mainly financial. In any case, integration invariably translatesinto overall financial gain as well as further progress towards the goal of pre-school forall children. A lesson learnt, however, is that the pursuit of savings cannot be taken toofar, since various personnel – schoolteachers, pre-school teachers, recreationalinstructors and day-care attendants – need time to adjust to the new integrated workteams, document their new practices and collectively reflect on the changes.

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Consolidating Governmental Early Childhood Education and CareServices Under the Ministry of Education and Science: A Swedish Case

Study

I. The context in which early childhood education and care wasintegrated under the auspices of the Ministry of Education andScience

1.1 Overview of early childhood education in Sweden today

1.1.1 Terms and general statistics

In official discourse as well as the mass media, the term “childcare”, or barnomsorg inSwedish, remains in use despite efforts since 1972 to have all services simply renamed“pre-school”. In this report “pre-school” and “pre-schooling” refer to services offered tochildren up to age six. The term “early childhood education and care” refers to pre-school services as well as childcare for school-aged children in leisure-time centres, or,as we prefer to call them, activity centres.

The official school starting age in Sweden is still seven years, and children arerequired to attend nine years of schooling. Today 98% of Swedish six-year-olds attend apre-school class on school premises, and thus actually spend 10 years in the compulsoryschool system. Today about 75% of children in Sweden aged 1-5, and 65% of childrenaged 6-9 are registered in some form of early childhood education and care service(Skolverket, 2001b).

1.1.2 Services

Pre-school and after-school services have theoretically been available since the late1960s to children aged 0-12 years whose parents are working or studying. Actualavailability to all families needing the services did not become a reality, however, untilthe middle of the 1990s. Since July 2001, children of unemployed parents also have theright to pre-school services for three hours per day. From January 1, 2002, theobligation to provide services will also apply for children whose parents are on parentalleave because of a younger sibling. Children in need of special support have alwaysbeen entitled to a place at a pre-school or leisure-time/activity centre ahead of otherchildren. The following services are available:

The pre-school (förskola) is a full-day service open all year, with openingtimes designed to fit parents’ working hours. Children are usually divided intogroups of between 15 and 24. Generally three employees – including at leastone teacher – are allocated to each group. The average pre-school comprisesthree such groups. In 1999 about 64% of all children aged 1-5 attended pre-school, or 319,000 children in all (Skolverket, 2001b).

Family day care (familjedaghem) involves municipal child-mindersproviding home care. The children are registered and opening hours are variedto fit in with parents’ schedules. Family day care is a complementary earlychildhood service for children who for one reason or another need to be in asmaller group, or who live far from the nearest pre-school, and is situated inthe home of the childminder. This alternative is thus more common in ruralareas and in small towns than in metropolitan areas. Family day care is alsoprovided for schoolchildren outside school hours as well. The number ofchildren in family day care has steadily declined since the late 1980s, todaystanding at some 11% of all children aged 1-5. In the autumn of 1999, about

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3% of all children aged 6-9 were in family day care. In total about 69,000children were registered in family day care in 1999 (Skolverket, 2001b).

The leisure-time or activity centre (fritidshem) is childcare for school-agechildren previously located in facilities outside the school, sometimesconnected to a pre-school. During the 1990s the centres were integrated withschool facilities. The centres are open all year round, and daily opening hoursare varied to fit parents’ schedules before and after school hours. Theprogrammes are designed to supplement schooling, help children in theirdevelopment as well as provide them with meaningful activities before andafter school. In 1999 about 332,000 children attended these centres one ormore days a week. Attendance has increased because of the integration of six-year-olds into pre-school classes, and because children from the “baby boom”of the late 1980s and early 1990s are now in school (Skolverket, 2001b).

The open pre-school (öppna förskolan) is a service, usually free of charge,for parents who are not working nor studying. This service is also used byfamily day care child-minders for their groups of children that they otherwisecare for in their own homes, in order to have access to pedagogical materialsnot available in their homes and to provide these children with an opportunityto interact with other children. The children must be accompanied by a parentor child-minder. In some housing areas, open pre-schools collaborate withpublic bodies such as social welfare, maternity care and child health-careservices. Children are not registered and are not required to attend regularly.In the autumn of 1999 there were about 900 open pre-schools in Sweden.

1.1.3 Funding

Funding of pre-school services, childcare for school-age children as well as compulsoryand upper secondary schooling is the full responsibility of the municipalities, and isfinanced by central government grants plus local tax revenue and parental fees. Thegovernment funds are not specifically earmarked for early childhood education andcare, but are part of a general-purpose grant to be used in a number of different sectors.

In 1998, the overall budget for early childhood education and care amounted to 39billion Swedish kronor (4.15 billion US dollars), making up 15 percent of the localauthorities’ total expenditures. Parental fees accounted for just under 17 percent of thebudget (Skolverket, 2001a). Municipalities set the parents’ fees, often calculatedaccording to total family income and the child’s hours of attendance. As a result, feeshave varied considerably between municipalities. From January 1, 2002, allmunicipalities have agreed on maximum fees for pre-schooling recommended by thegovernment. The fee may not exceed three percent of the family’s income or 1,140kronor per month for the family’s first child, 760 kronor for the second child and 380kronor for the third child. For school-age childcare (leisure-time/activity centres), thefee may not exceed 760 kronor per month for the family’s first child, and 380 kronor forthe second and third child (Skolverket, 2001b).

1.1.4 Legislation and curriculum

The Education Act, reformed in 1998, regulates early childhood education and care aswell as compulsory schooling, specifying requirements for the provision of high-qualityservices. Restrictions on the use of government grants were tightened, since localauthorities did not supply early childhood education services to the extent expected.

Under the new act, employees are to have sufficient training or experience to beable to satisfy the child's needs for both care and stimulating pedagogical activities.Premises are to be well adapted to their purpose, groups are to be suitably mixed and ofappropriate size, and activities are to be based on the individual needs of each child(Skolverket, 2001b).

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All the above services must follow the curricula for pre-school for children of 1-5years (Lpfö 98) or compulsory school for children of 6 to 16 years (Lpo 94/98). Thefirst national pre-school curriculum was launched in 1998, and the compulsory schoolcurriculum was revised in 1998 to include the pre-school class and the leisure-time/activity centres.

1.1.5 Staff

Personnel in early childhood education and care usually have some kind of training forworking with children. The four staff categories are:

pre-school teachers; recreational instructors (also referred to as leisure-time pedagogues in some

translations); day-care attendants (or child-minders); and child-minders in family day care (or family child-minders).

Previously pre-school teachers and recreational instructors underwent a three-yearpedagogical and practical training programme at a university focusing on learningmethods, developmental psychology, family sociology and creative activities. As of theautumn of 2001, pre-school teachers, recreational instructors and first-year compulsoryschoolteachers all undergo three and a half years of pedagogical and practical training.About half of pre-school personnel have a university degree, and the rest are day-careattendants with an upper secondary school qualification, or child-minders who havetaken municipal training courses. At leisure-time/activity centres, some 70 percent havedegrees in recreational or leisure education, or some other kind of teacher training,while 20 percent are day-care attendants. About 2-3 percent of pre-school staff andabout 5 percent of leisure-time/activity centre personnel are men (Skolverket, 2001b).

1.1.6 Salaries

The salary of staff with a university education is generally about 10 percent higher thanthat of day-care attendants. Pre-school teachers and recreational instructors earn about20 percent less than primary and secondary schoolteachers and about 30 percent lessthan upper secondary schoolteachers (Skolverket, 2001a). Teachers generally havelower incomes to other academic professionals, but salaries vary considerably accordingto location. Teachers in the cities generally have higher salaries, reflecting higher livingcosts

1.2 Early political interest in the education and care of pre-schoolchildren

1.2.1 The pre-school as a “cornerstone” of welfare society

The first infant nurseries/crèches were established for children with evident social needsand were funded by charitable organisations in the 1850s. The first kindergartens wereset up in the 1890s to provide part time pre-school education for middle-class children.Strong forces among politicians, prominent philanthropists and medical doctors led tothe start of pre-school activities with a holistic view of care, health andpedagogy/education in Folkbarnträdgård, or public kindergartens. The first of these,opened in 1904 (Simmons-Christenson, 1991), was a full-day activity centre forchildren of all social classes from age three. This pre-school was launched specificallyas a home-like setting based on the new middle-class home as an ideal, where medical,social, caring and educational services were integrated (Tallberg Broman, 1991). Oneaim of these collaborating forces was to counteract and avoid inequitable distribution ofearly childhood services in relation to class (ability to pay) or content (day-care,nursery, crèche or Fröbel-inspired learning activities in Barnträdgården). The desirewas to create programmes from a holistic viewpoint, uniting different classes as muchas possible behind a consensus view of how to raise children to become normal, healthy


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and democratic middle-class citizens. In today’s policy statements, this is described as aholistic or “overall view of the child’s development and learning needs, bringingtogether health care, social care, fostering and teaching” and “ensuring that the well-being of the child also has educational implications”. This holistic view isconceptualized by the National Agency for Education in the following way: “Childrenlearn all the time and with all their senses,” therefore “it is not possible to identify anyspecific occasions when development or learning actually occurs” (Skolverket, 2001b).

Even though it would be many years before public kindergarten(Folkbarnträdgården) would serve a substantial majority of pre-school aged children,early childhood education was politically understood as a cornerstone of the welfaresociety (Hultqvist, 1990; 1998). Up until the 1980s there had been a general and basictrust in the Swedish state to implement democracy as a collectively funded centralisedwelfare society. Throughout this period there was a political majority and a will toprioritise issues concerning small children, whether they related to care, health oreducation. Opposing voices were however always present in the political debate, whichwas perceived by voters as a left–right ideological conflict, between a socialist ideologyof the state as the main care-taker of children, and a liberal or conservative ideal of thefamily as the foundation of a child’s upbringing. But the conflict has been much moreblurred in terms of state–family or private–public, compared with other westerndemocracies. Especially the liberals have co-operated extensively with socialists toexpand public services of all kinds, which has undermined the autonomy of the family.Right-wing politicians and voters have been rather ambivalent and inconsistent inasserting the autonomy and integrity of the family as an institution. Concerns of thefamily, such as childcare, maternity care and child health care, have been successfullyintegrated in centralised state policies, and are of central concern.

Support for pre-schooling as a cornerstone of the welfare society has, however,been based on the implicit notion that the family is not sufficiently capable of takingcare of its own children and in need of support for the endeavour (Hultqvist, 1997).Critics have pointed to a political will to “pedagogize” and regulate both childhood andfamily life to an extreme extent, in an attempt to create an all-encompassing welfarestate (Lenz Taguchi, 1996; 2000). Although similar critiques have been raised in otherwestern countries (Fendler, 2001; Popkewitz, 1998; Rose, 1999), it seems, from aSwedish point of view, that the trust placed in the state to integrate the private domaininto state policies has been far greater in Sweden than in any other western democracy(Hultqvist, 1998).

1.2.2 Pre-school as a social or educational issue?

As it turned out, Sweden took longer than its neighbours to finally make earlychildhood education and care a fully state-funded activity, administered bymunicipalities. The problem stemmed partly from disagreement over whether pre-schooling was more an educational issue or a social one. The pioneers, backed mainlyby liberal politicians, insisted that pre-schooling was an educational issue. The 1940shad already seen heated arguments over whether school or social authorities were bestsuited to supervise the institutions. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs was giventhe responsibility, but the decision was far from unanimous. The Ministry of Educationwas involved to the extent that in many cases children were submitted to tests todetermine whether they were “mature” enough – socially and psychologically – to startschool. Swedish children have generally not had to have skills as advanced as those oftheir French and British counterparts. Writing, reading and math skills were left entirelyto the school years.

Pre-schooling received its first state funding in 1943, under legislation stipulatingthat responsibility for developing and regulating pre-schooling would gradually shiftfrom the state to the municipalities. By 1961, the municipalities managed 65 percent ofearly childhood education and care, and in 1970 nearly all institutions (96%) wereunder the control of the municipalities. Thus the reform took 30 years to be completed(Johansson & Åstedt, 1993).

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As pre-schooling became fully state-funded, private management was generallynot permitted. In the late 1980s, “semi-private” pre-schooling and day care wasallowed, but funding was still indexed to per-child tax revenues, and these pre-schoolswere not allowed to charge higher fees than municipal pre-schools, and they had toreinvest any profits for the benefit of the children and staff. In 1996, early childhoodeducation and care was formally integrated under the Ministry of Education andScience, and pre-schooling ceased to be viewed as an issue of social policy and becamepart of the education policy.

1.2.3 The view of the child in pre-school and compulsory school

The basic assumption underlying the nurturing and instruction of the pre-school child iscontained in the phrase freedom by normalisation. This explicit ideal combined Fröblianpedagogical ideas of freedom with new developmental psychology (Lenz Taguchi,2000) based on the findings of Karl and Charlotte Bühler and transplanted to Swedenfrom Austria by the progressive pedagogue Elsa Köhler (Karlsson, 1998; Köhler, 1936).Köhler and others espoused the idea of universal stages of development and the view ofthe child as nature, providing the basic foundation of both pre-schooling and schooling,despite many other differences between these institutions (Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi,1994). Scientifically established norms have been used to diagnose deviations, allowingteachers in both pre-school and compulsory school to help each child reach the normalstages of development (Lenz Taguchi, 2000). Integration of children with “specialneeds” has therefore been a self-evident responsibility for all teachers.

Swedish family and education policies have often been said to reflect a uniqueview of the child (Martin Korpi, 2001; Skolverket, 2001a; Regeringskansliet, 1999).Today as in the past, the child is explicitly seen as a resource for society, and enjoysrespect as a citizen with comparatively strong democratic rights. In this regard, afrequently cited 1979 law against child abuse proscribes corporal punishment ofchildren by parents and guardians.

1.2.4 The pre-school as an ideal substitute home that “liberates” the child aswell as the mother

The ideal of the free development of the child in accordance with his or her innateabilities called for a home-like environment with specific characteristics (Moberg,1937). Such environments were created to impart middle-class ideals of hygiene, livingconditions, cleanliness, manners and morals as well as providing care and creativeteaching (Lenz Taguchi, 2000). Twice monthly “parents’ nights” offered readings ofworks by Fröbel, Köhler and other pedagogues and discussions of child-rearing issues,hygiene, home-making and good grooming.

In 1934 the social democratic politician Alva Myrdal put forward the ideal of afull-day pre-school for all social classes called Storbarnkammaren, or nursery for all(Myrdal, 1934). This pre-school would provide education and care by well-educated,psychologically trained professionals or “substitute mothers”, while the children's actualmothers were working (Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi, 1994). Myrdal’s vision was to helpfree the child from a home environment lacking in the spatial and material opportunitiesnecessary for stimulating innate abilities to foster proper development and learning. Atthe same time she wanted to free mothers from the home and help them takeresponsibility for educating their children in a scientifically sound manner within aninstitution. Implicit in her vision, shared by other feminists, was another key argumentfor full-time pre-schooling, namely enabling women to take part in the public workforce. The Storbarnkammaren was also conceived as a convenient local meeting placefor parents, grandparents and neighbours, where children and grown-ups could mingle,play and talk at night after working hours. This was an important part of Myrdal’svision of equality, both between the sexes as well as between different social classes.

Parts of Myrdal’s vision of equality and full-day pre-school took 40 years tomaterialise, requiring determined struggle within the feminist movement and a strong


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national economy. While services were expanding rapidly, the waiting lists for full-daypre-schools seemed endless. Women could not wait to get out into the labour market.By the 1970s, the Storbarnkammaren as a meeting place was no longer a dream, asparents commonly had breakfast with their children in the pre-school before going towork, and stayed around for coffee in the afternoon when they came to pick up theirchildren. Many pre-school teachers and nursery-educated staff look back on this periodas the “golden age” of pre-schooling. Staff-child ratios were as low as they would everbe, with as few as three children to each staff member, compared with as many as six orseven children per adult today (Johansson & Åstedt, 1993; Lenz Taguchi, 2000). In1990 staff-child ratios averaged about 4.4 children per full-time employee, rising toabout 5.4 in 2001 (Martin Korpi, 2001). However, the staff-child ratios varyconsiderably across municipalities.

1.2.5 The expansion of pre-schooling

The number of children in early childhood services doubled between 1971 and 1975(Lenz Taguchi, 2000). From 1970 to 1998, the number rose more than tenfold, from71,000 to 720,000 (Regeringskansliet, 1999). Today, about 75 percent of children up toage five attend early childhood education institutions (pre-schools and family day-carehomes). About 93 percent of six-year-olds attend the pre-school class in schools, addinga voluntary year of schooling instead of remaining in pre-school, family-day care or athome (Skolverket, 2001b).

However, the rapid expansion during the 1970s and 1980s came in for criticism,particularly over the lack of staff trained in the traditional approaches of Köhler, Geselland others to serve as a reference for staff seeking to implement new national guidelinesbased on the ideas of Piaget and Erikson (Lenz Taguchi, 2000). In other words, it wasnot possible to educate enough trained staff in relation to the fast expansion. Untrainedor newly educated staff found themselves at new pre-schools, where sometimes the onlyteacher with prior experience was the head of the pre-school and no longer workeddirectly with children. Old theories were simply dismissed in favour of the NationalCommission on Childcare guidelines. The new theories, however, of Piaget and Eriksonwere not properly contexualised and the interpretation was superficial. For example, theCommission’s theories on “dialogue pedagogy” gave rise to norm-free, laissez-fairepractices that did not integrate traditional norms and values. Fears were revived of thepsychological risks of placing children under three in pre-schooling, similar to attitudescommon about 70 years earlier towards working-class mothers who were seen ascompromising their children’s education by accepting philanthropic day care so theycould work outside the home. In the 1970s, such notions were motivated less byconcern for the children as by resistance to women’s liberation, that is, to their desire towork even while their children were very young. No research has yet shownpsychological damage from early participation in pre-schooling or long hours in pre-school activity. On the contrary, longitudinal studies have shown greater cognitiveabilities and social skills in pre-school children who start at an early age and stay longhours (3 hours or more), compared with children who start at an older age and stayshorter hours (1-3 hours) (Andersson, 1989; Andersson, 1992; Andersson & Strander,1998).

1.3 Pre-schooling as a right of the child

1.3.1 A 10-year process (1985-95) culminating in the right to pre-schoolingfrom age one

Bengt Lindqvist was one of the first Ministers to give primacy to the idea that earlychildhood education and care are a right of the child rather than the parent. In 1985 hesuggested that children from the age of 1½ years with working or studying parentsshould have the right to pre-schooling (Bill 1984/85:209). While the municipalitieswere previously obliged to follow a governmental expansion plan, they were nowrequired to provide a place for every child 1½ years or older within three months of an

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application by a working or studying parent. With the new intense pressure on themunicipalities to provide pre-school services, the issue of costs became more crucialthan children’s right to pre-schooling. By the end of 1980 it was obvious thatguaranteed pre-schooling for 1-1/2-year-olds was still a distant goal for manymunicipalities. A national economic recession combined with a lack of local politicaland financial will doomed the plan to failure. Lindqvist’s bill of 1985 did not come intoforce until 10 years later, in 1995, when the goal seemed more comprehensible, andthen was extended to children of one-year-old.

1.3.2 Right to pre-schooling for children with unemployed parents orparents on parental leave

At the end of the 1980s the overheated Swedish economy went into a deep crisis, whichresulted in shrinking production and growing unemployment. In just the three yearsbetween 1991 and 1993, unemployment surged from a low of two percent to eightpercent (Regeringskansliet, 1999). Unemployment has remained high and prompted arethinking of the right to pre-schooling. The emergence of the idea that pre-schooling isa right of the child led to legislation in July 2001 requiring that children of unemployedparents have equal opportunity to at least three hours of pre-schooling per day. Sixmonths later, children with parents on parental leave won the right to continue in pre-school, whereas previously they would have been taken out when their parents tookleave to take care of a newborn sibling.

1.4 Pre-schooling guidelines preceding the first curriculum in 1998Legislation on a pre-school curriculum was enacted for the first time in Sweden in1998. Previously, from the 1940s, pre-school instruction was based on a number ofmajor government investigations that produced extensively used documents. Three ofthese investigations, used as a basis for locally formulated official guidelines for pre-school services over the past 15 years, are discussed below.

1.4.1 The National Commission on Child Care (Barnstugeutredningen, SOU1972:26 and 1972:27)

In 1968 the National Commission on Child Care was set up with some of the leadingfigures in the pre-school movement. Their report would become a highly influentialdocument for the new generation of pre-school personnel in a period of rapid expansion(SOU 1972:26 and 1972:27). The Commission drew on Elsa Köhler's and ArnoldGesell’s developmental theories and developed this thinking into a constructivist, socialand interactionist approach including family life and psychoanalytic theory (i.e., J. S.Bruner, J. Piaget, E.H. Erikson and H. Mead). The recommended pedagogical approachrevolved around dialogue between teacher and child, with the child enjoying greatfreedom to choose materials, themes and activities (Schyl-Bjurman & Strömberg-Lind1976). The teacher’s role was to provide support and stimulation in order to fulfil theneeds of the child. The Commission also sought to merge half-day pre-schooling(Kindergarten/lekskolan) with full-day day care (day-care centres/daghem) into oneinstitution and concept – the pre-school. The aim was to close the gap between theinstitution based solely on pedagogical learning activities (lekskola) and that basedmainly on care (daghem), and create the ideal union of care and pedagogy. Half-day andfull-day services differed greatly in staff training and working practices. The integrationof the two would be rather painful for many teachers in half-day services, since theirprofessional experience was not valued equally with that of young pre-school teacherstrained in the approaches recommended by the Commission (Lenz Taguchi, 2000). TheCommission’s report was the first extensive official document on the goals,organisation, content and practice of early childhood education, and laid the foundationfor pre-schooling in the latter part of the 20th century. As a result of the Commission,the first law affecting pre-school children in Sweden was enacted in 1975. The law,Förskolelagen, stipulated that every six-year-old had the right to 525 hours per year ofstate-funded but locally run pre-schooling.


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1.4.2 “Education through teamwork” (Utbildning i samspel, SOU 1975:67)

An investigation into the training of pre-school teachers was carried out in 1975,resulting in a report entitled “Education Through Teamwork” that affirmed that noformal difference should exist between the tasks of differently trained staff within thepre-school. The pre-school teacher was responsible for the pedagogical planning ofactivities, which would be performed on an equal basis by day-care attendants and pre-school teachers as well as untrained staff. They formed a “work team”, a non-hierarchical organisation that would set a democratic example for children. Pre-schoolteachers who in half-day pre-schools had enjoyed regular hours from 8:00 am to 4:00pm now had to share responsibilities equally, sometimes having to open the pre-schoolas early as 6:30 am or close as late as 6:30 pm. At many institutions, very few trainedpre-school teachers were present during the expansion years of the 1970s and ‘80s.While the ideal pre-school today has a majority of trained teaching staff, many still donot, largely for financial reasons, even though the salary of a pre-school teacher is notmuch higher than that of a day-care attendant.

The shift to “work teams” had wide-ranging effects that could be discussed atlength. In the presence context the significance of the change relates to the process ofintegrating pre-schooling with schooling, as discussed later.

1.4.3 The education programme for pre-schooling (Pedagogiska programmet,Socialstyrelsen 1987:3)

The 1985 legislation (Bill 1984/85:209) enshrining the right of the 1-1/2-year-old childof working and studying parents to placement in pre-schooling also appointed aCommission to formulate a more modern programme. More than 10 years had passedsince the National Commission on Child Care (Barnstugeutredningen) of 1972. Sincethe basis of the education programme for pre-schooling (Socialstyrelsen, 1987:3) wasthe child’s right to early childhood education, the services for children’s developmentand learning had great pedagogical importance. In line with ongoing decentralisation,the programme defined a set of frameworks aimed particularly at municipal officials intheir planning and development of guidelines for local services. Discarding the one-on-one dialogue pedagogy espoused by the National Commission on Child Care (1972:26;1972:27), the new programme re-emphasised the importance of working with groups ofchildren. Theme-oriented activities, pioneered in the 1930s by Köhler under the term“centres of interest”, were further developed, reinforcing a long tradition in pre-schooling. A pedagogical programme for leisure-time/activity centres was alsoformulated and published in 1988 (Socialstyrelsen, 1988:7).

1.5 Important notions and reforms preceding the integration of pre-school and compulsory schooling

1.5.1 Reverse logic: Bring pre-school pedagogy into compulsory school!

Why did the Nordic countries and especially Sweden take so long to allow children tostart school before age seven? In most other countries starting school at six or even fivehas hardly been controversial. The general idea in Sweden, however, was to offer anideal childhood to the extent possible, so that starting school was seen as the end of “thegolden age of childhood”! The resulting strong resistance towards an earlier school-starting age was overcome only by having pre-school pedagogy dominate at least thefirst year of schooling. The Minister of Education in the 1980s, Bengt Göransson, said:“I want pre-schooling to be a spearhead into schooling” (Martin Korpi, 2001).

State directives have always stressed coordination and cooperation between pre-school and compulsory schooling. The idea has been to make the transition between thetwo as smooth as possible for children, by bringing the two pedagogies closer together.With the extension of the holistic view of the child into schooling, children enjoycontinuity and a sense of self-assurance in the new learning institution. The holistic

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approach puts equal emphasis on all aspects of the child’s development - the emotional,social and physical (i.e., motor abilities), as well as cognitive. The different learningenvironments and cultures were expected to complement rather than contradict eachother during the first years of schooling. The rhetorical logic was, thus, that pre-schooling was to influence schooling, rather than make children start compulsoryschooling earlier. In addition to this the full day pre-schools were considered bettersuited than schools to the modern society and family with their full day care and holisticview of learning and development.

1.5.2 Early coordination strategies between pre-school and compulsoryschool

Coordination strategies between pre-school and compulsory schooling, initiallyvoluntary, started to become mandatory from the 1940s. The School Commission of1947 (SOU 1947:11) required pre-school teachers to judge whether children weresufficiently mature to start compulsory schooling. They were also required to teach six-year-olds skills needed for schooling such as sitting still, taking turns to speak, hand-raising in group settings, dressing and tying shoelaces, and walking and talkingproperly. More recently, the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen,1987:3; Socialstyrelsen, 1990) stipulated that pre-school institutions are responsible forpreparing children for schooling, but gave no clear instructions.

Numerous local coordination projects were carried out through the 1970-1980s.These overwhelmingly tended to be administrative and organisational in nature ratherthan attitudinal. The most common programme involved having pre-school childrenvisit their prospective compulsory schools once a week to become familiar with thephysical environment, the routines and rules and their future teachers. Innovations incooperative pedagogical practice were extremely rare (Dahlberg, Krook & Williams-Olsson, 1973; Gran, 1979; SOU 1994:45).

Most pre-school teachers have faced a constant conflict when trying to stimulateall aspects of their six-year-olds’ development while simultaneously preparing them forthe entirely different learning environment of schooling (Holmlund, 1996).

1.5.3 Flexible school starting age introduced in 1991

The Minister of Education at this time, Göran Persson, introduced legislation to allow aflexible school-starting age in 1991. The rationale for lower starting ages was initiallymore financial than pedagogical. In the 1960s the issue was to get more women into thework force, while the 1980s saw a need to counter low school enrolment resulting inteachers being laid off and schools shutting down. The Ministry of Finance suggested alowering of the school starting age, but met with strong resistance. Kjell Olof Feldt,who was Minister of Finance at the time, recalls that the Ministry of Education claimedthat neither the school system nor Swedish children were pedagogically andpsychologically “mature enough” to handle a younger school starting age. TheEducation Minister at the time, Bengt Göransson, supported the idea, but others in theministry resisted it simply because it came from the Ministry of Finance, according toFeldt (Feldt, 1991).

The question arose again in 1990, when the Ministry of Health and Welfare itselfadvocated lowering the school-starting age. The municipalities had begun strugglingfinancially to achieve the goals of the 1985 Bill guaranteeing placement for all childrenof working and studying parents from 1½ years of age. Education Minister Perssonintroduced a Bill (1990/91:115), passed in June 1991 by the Swedish Parliament,establishing a flexible school-starting age allowing parents to opt to put their six-year-olds in first grade. The municipalities had to provide places for them, and had until1997 to prepare placements for all six-year-olds. In the legislation, Persson urgedteaching staff to use a holistic perspective with the children, and further coordinationbetween pre-schools and compulsory schools. He set the following preconditions for aflexible school-starting age:


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New ideas for teacher education and in-service training of teachers. (A Bill onRenewal of Teacher Training, 1999/2000:135, was adopted by Parliament in2000)

Integration of leisure-time/activity centres in schooling; Removal of all remaining obstacles preventing municipalities from taking full

responsibility for schoolteachers' employment, as laid down in the Bill of1989/90:41;

Support for municipalities in integrating local municipal boards for schooling andpre-schooling into one board and a joint local office; and

Formulation and passage of a joint curriculum for schooling and pre-schooling(Bill 1995/96:206).

The National Agency for Education carried out an evaluation of the flexibleschool-starting age in 1994, finding that opportunities for parents to put their six-year-olds in school varied widely across municipalities. Implementation strategies varied, butgenerally, the right to formal schooling for six-year-olds was not yet fully implemented,with three years remaining to complete the reform by the 1997 deadline (Skolverket,1994).

1.5.4 Leisure-time/activity centres are integrated into compulsory schooling

Leisure-time/activity centres were physically separate from school buildings before1991. The centres, together with pre-schools, belonged to the government’s socialpolicy for the family rather than educational policy. School-age childcare was integratedinto schooling physically as well as administratively under the Bill on flexible school-starting age (1990/91:115). The services were moved into school buildings, andschoolteachers became the co-workers and colleagues of recreational instructors andday-care attendants.

A key rationale for this decision, along with financial and efficiencyconsiderations, was the need to offer families full-day services in one location – “all-day education and care” – similar to pre-school services. In the Bill outlining thesechanges (1990/91:115), the Minister of Schools emphasised that the flexible school startwould probably spark increased demand for school-age childcare from parents with six-year-olds in compulsory school. He also declared that leisure-time/activity centreswould become an important support for schooling. The official report on leisure-time/activity centres (SOU:1991:54) gave equal emphasis to financial and pedagogicalreasons for integrating premises, staff and resources. As a result, school-age childcarebecame a complement to the school as well as to the home.

Specific research into the integration of school-age childcare with schooling hasdocumented the difficulties of recreational instructors coping with new responsibilitiesduring the school day, while carrying out their regular work at leisure-time/activitycentres both before and after school hours. Recreational instructors are becomingauxiliary teachers supporting regular schoolteachers, who for their part haveexperienced no change in their professional identity since the integration (Hansen,1999; Calander, 1999).

1.5.5 Introducing pre-school pedagogy into school curricula

An investigation (SOU 1994:45) was published in 1994 suggesting that the Swedishschool was not sufficiently “mature” to embrace a holistic view of the child and providea satisfactory learning environment for all children with individual needs. Thisdocument was the first step towards a joint curriculum for pre-schooling and schooling,and another attempt to determine whether the compulsory school system could beextended from nine years to 10. Discussions of lowering the school-starting age werereopened, alongside considerations of an upward extension in the system. Theinvestigation concluded that biological age was not a crucial factor, but rather thechild's intellectual, social and emotional maturity. It said teaching in schools needed to

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become “child-mature”, or flexible in relation to each child’s learning style and needs.The investigation also recommended integration between pre-schooling and schoolingto make such teaching possible. It advocated the work team as a superior organisationalpractice, enabling pre-school teachers, recreational instructors and regularschoolteachers to exchange methods and ways of understanding children’s needs. Thefoundation for a new way of working in the lower ages of schooling was to beestablished through the merger of two different traditions, with the child seen as a co-constructor of culture and knowledge (Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi, 1994).

1.5.6 From rule-based centralisation to goal-based decentralisation

The process of integration was probably facilitated by the shift from centralised todecentralised forms of regulation that has occurred since the mid-1980s, with“governing by rules” giving way to “governing by goals”. In 1990 an important steptowards decentralisation was taken when responsibility for employment of compulsoryand secondary schoolteachers, as well as upper secondary schoolteachers, shifted fromthe state to municipalities (Bill 1989/90:41). The state began to see the governing ofschools as goal-based. It wanted to integrate facilities and staff providing schooling andschool-age childcare – schools and leisure-time/activity centres. This made possibleboth co-operation and collective responsibility for children during the entire workday,as well as the effective use of resources. Teachers have taken on administrativeresponsibilities, and all categories of teacher have the same employer. Previously, whenthe state and the municipalities employed teachers and recreational instructors,respectively, cooperation was difficult.

Some teachers initially saw being employees of the municipalities as a loweringof their status, but much of this resistance has disappeared over the past decade.Teachers are happy with the help they get in classrooms from recreational instructors.Many teachers have used the opportunity to change jobs between municipalities, raisingtheir salaries substantially. Competition between municipalities for teaching staff andother personnel has increased, sometimes to the advantage of children and theirfamilies, sometimes not. Flexibility and change, no longer mere visions, have becomeday-to-day concepts.

The many rationales for the shift to goal-based regulation from centralisedregulation have been studied extensively elsewhere (Lindensjö & Lundgren, 1986;Lundgren, 1990). The essential point here is that many municipalities had begunaddressing the integration of pre-schooling and schooling long before the formaldecision to bring early childhood education and care into the Ministry of Education andScience in 1996. Then, because of decentralised regulation, the steps taken andsolutions chosen varied widely across the 289 municipalities. Many municipal officesalready had a joint pre-school, school board and administration, as well as strongcooperation between school forms. Other municipalities still had far to go.

1.5.7 Summary of the context and factors preceding integration

Following is a summary of the main factors behind the decision to integrate: A political will and interest in the effectiveness of pre-school pedagogy in

developing and educating the child and giving children a strong start in all aspectsof life;

The 1985 Bill on the right to pre-school services for every child, from age oneand a half, whose parents were working or studying (Bill 84/1985:209);

Decentralisation processes in governing and administering municipal servicessince the mid-1980s -- “from governing by rules to governing by goals” (Bill1988/89:4);

Municipalities became the formal employers of schoolteachers in 1990, whichmeant that pre-school and after-school service staff would have the sameemployers as regular schoolteachers (Bill 1989/90:41).


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The 1991 law on flexible school starting age (Bill 90/91:115); The integration of leisure-time centres into schooling in 1991 (Bill 1990/91:115); The 1994 study (SOU 1994:45) preparing a joint curriculum for pre-schooling

and schooling; and Legislation from 1995 on the right to pre-school services for every one-year-old

child of working or studying parents, based on the 1985 legislation.

II. The integration of early childhood education into a universal systemof lifelong learning

2.1 Rationales for integration

2.1.1 Pedagogical and financial rationales

Persson, as Prime Minister in 1996, declared that Sweden must become a nation ofknowledge – a kunskapsnation. To realise this goal, Sweden must improve the entireeducational system, from the pre-school to the university level, the former EducationMinister said. He also stated that pre-schooling should be an instrument for improvingthe crucial first year of compulsory schooling (Martin Korpi, 2001). His insistence on alifelong learning perspective was strongly supported by the School Minister, YlvaJohansson. The natural step was to integrate pre-schooling with schooling.

The rationales for integrating early childhood education with pre-schooling undera single ministry, especially the Ministry of Education and Science, are best understoodin two steps. First, it is necessary to recall that since 1944, all early childhood educationand care services had been under one single ministry – the Ministry of Health andWelfare. As a result, when the decision was made in 1996 to integrate early childhoodeducation and care with the compulsory school system, only two ministries wereinvolved. The move from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to the Ministry ofEducation and Science shifted the focus on the purpose of pre-schooling, from socialand family to educational. While pre-schooling retained its dual purpose – care andpedagogy – the emphasis shifted from care to pedagogy. At the ministerial level, thepersonnel concerned with pre-schooling at the Ministry of Health and Welfare simplychanged their workplace, moving over to the Ministry of Education and Science. Thusthe integration of ministerial auspices was quite undramatic.

The second step is to look at the decision in relation to the context of schoolingand pre-schooling in Sweden and the reforms preceding the integration, outlined in thefirst section of this report. The rationales can be summarised as follows:

Transforming Sweden into a “knowledge nation”, by improving the wholeeducational system, from pre-schooling to university.

Transforming the education system into a system of lifelong learning, byreforming the compulsory school system and taking a holistic view of the childand learning in pre-school pedagogy.

Legislating municipalities to provide pre-school classes for 6-year olds, thusgiving access to 10 years of schooling, of which 9 years (still) are compulsory.

Financial rationales.

From a wider, global perspective, the decision to integrate at the level ofministries can be understood as a response to increased global competition forknowledge and skills (Martin Korpi, 2001; Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 1999). To be ableto compete in emerging world markets, Sweden needs a high level of education acrosssociety as a whole, for people in general to be able to take part in an increasingly skilledwork force. A high level of excellence is needed to develop new products andknowledge for different markets. The idea of lifelong learning corresponds closely withSwedish pre-school and school traditions. Sweden, as a social-democratic state for most

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of the 20th century, has injected abundant political will and state funds into “educationfor all”. Education has long been understood as a cornerstone of the welfare state. Themain thrust, however, has been the provision of adult education and enabling people tocomplete secondary and upper secondary education. Associations and unions haveprovided extensive educational activities and in-service training programmes for theirmembers. With today’s information society and global competition for knowledge andskills, interest has also focused on the youngest members of society. The integration ofpre-schooling and schooling into one ministry, with 100% financial and pedagogicalresponsibility, was logical in the lifelong learning perspective, particularly given thescope of the services involved. The merger offered a more coherent command of theissues, which were less in danger of “falling between two stools,” says Barbara MartinKorpi, Senior Adviser in the Ministry of Education. Ultimately, a single organisationbecame responsible for evaluation and quality control (Martin Korpi, 2001).

Financial motivations were an important precondition to the integration process.As discussed earlier, there was a national-level financial rationale for the expansion ofearly childhood education and care. The same goes for lifelong learning. Moreover,since on a per-child basis compulsory schooling is far cheaper than pre-schooling inSweden, it became highly attractive financially for municipalities to “upgrade” six-year-olds to schooling after 1995 when the Bill of 1985 was finally enacted. The Bill(1984/85:209), discussed above, requires the municipalities to provide pre-schooling forall children of working and studying parents from the age one within three months ofapplication.

The financial and pedagogical rationales for the decision to integrate earlychildhood education and care with compulsory schooling were polarised: less expensivewhole day education and care in school and a risk of pre-schools’ becoming“educationised”; or, as a result of a successful integration, schools becoming “pre-schoolized”. Transforming schooling with a more holistic view of children and learning,however, was understood as generally “good” and desirable. To oppose this, said theformer Director-General of the National Agency for Education during this time, Ulf P.Lundgren, “would have been equivalent to swearing in church” (2001). Howevercontradictory it may seem, one important way of understanding what has happened isthat both “educationization” of 6-year-olds as well as “pre-schoolization” of schoolinghave taken place. (This is discussed later under consequences and impacts.)

2.2 The process and transition at ministerial level

2.2.1. A basically undramatic transition at the ministerial level

The transition at the ministerial level was basically undramatic. The departmentresponsible for early childhood education and care at the Ministry of Health andWelfare was transferred to the Ministry of Education and Science without muchdifficulty (Martin Korpi, 2001; Lundgren, 2001). Integrated groups were formed fromthe personnel who moved from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and those already atthe Ministry of Education. Thus, for all investigations, discussions and planningconcerning ages 0-16, pre-schooling officials now work together with their compulsoryschooling counterparts. Only the department for upper secondary school (grades 10through 12) – gymnasieskolan – formed a group of its own (Martin Korpi, 2001).

The National Agency for Education invited pre-schooling specialists to take partin a special council as part of the integration process. The aim was to train staff at theNational Agency for Education in pre-school issues, as well as to influence theirpractices with knowledge and ideas from the pre-school field (Lundgren, 2001). Theformer Director-General of the National Agency for Education, Ulf P. Lundgren, statedthat a formal evaluation of the process showed that overall the Agency had acquirednew knowledge about the field of early childhood education and care (Lundgren, 2001).

Lundgren, Agency officials and staff travelled across the country to inform localmunicipal officials about the reforms and to make them "visible" to practitioners. Themunicipalities that had not yet integrated their political and administrative organisations


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were given support to do so. Central and municipal officials discussed ways tounderstand pre-schooling in a lifelong learning perspective (Lundgren, 2001).

In a decentralised system it is up to the municipalities to initiate localimplementation projects. The National Agency had no funds to start local projects atthis time; while some municipalities had started extensive projects, others had not(Lundgren, 2001).

2.2.2 Forms of resistance at the central level

At the ministerial level, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry ofEducation and Science had been collaborating for a few years in several investigationsaimed at lowering the school-starting age, integrating the two school forms or both.Political rhetoric was dominated by the idea that pre-schooling should influenceschooling, rather than the reverse. Many at the Ministry of Health and Welfare fearedthat pre-school pedagogy would lose its prestige, at least symbolically and politically,with the integration (Martin Korpi, 2001). Early childhood education and care enjoyedhigh status in social policies throughout the 20th century while under the Ministry ofHealth and Welfare, and was an area in which both politicians and officials took greatpride. But fear that pre-schooling would lose its status has proved unfounded. Since theintegration, the issues of pre-schooling and children have been high on the politicalagenda with at least two new reforms -- the maximum fee reform (2002) and thatintroducing “universal” pre-school for four- and five-year-olds (2003).

The strongest resistance to integration came from the union representing day-careattendants over concerns that their profession would be eroded by the“educationalisation” of pre-schooling. Pre-school teachers’ unions had stated a goal,dating back to the early 1980s, that all staff must eventually have a university degree.They argued that since the pre-school is above all a pedagogical institution, its staffrequired qualifications beyond training in health and care. The issue of status andprofessionalisation accompanied the ever-present question of whether pre-schoolingwas essentially a matter of babysitting/care or education/pedagogy. As a profession,pre-schooling lost status from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, after a short“honeymoon” period in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was seen as socially andpolitically important. It was during this short period that about 12% of the staff weremen. Today in the big cities, the vision of pre-schools enjoying the same status asschools is far from a reality, with only one in three staff members having a universitydegree. Only two to three percent of pre-school staff are men.

2.2.3 The pre-school class

The idea of a voluntary year of schooling for six-year-olds in pre-schools was proposedin 1997 after another bid to lower the school-starting age from seven to six years wasrejected. In the Bill of 1997/98:6, Göran Persson as Prime Minister proposed anotherform of integration, in which municipalities would be obliged to start “pre-schoolclasses” for all six-year-olds. The pre-school class legally became part of thecompulsory school system in 1998, in part to support the integration of pre-school andschooling. The municipalities had only one year to implement the new law, which wasseen as an extension of 1991 legislation on the flexible school start. During this shorttime span, some municipalities practically “forced” a large number of six-year-olds whowere not already voluntarily enrolled in schooling into the “pre-school class”. This ishow, in practice, the school-starting age was lowered in many municipalities. Thereform can thereby be understood as a "legitimate" way for many municipalities to savemoney by « pushing » more children as quickly as possible to the less expensive school-system. On the other hand, financial factors may in fact have been of paramountimportance in pushing many municipalities towards necessary organisational integrationat the local level, making more effective, comprehensible and holistic organisationspossible.

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2.2.4 The first national curriculum for pre-schooling (Lpfö98)

The first national curriculum for pre-schooling (SOU 1997:157), enacted by Parliamentin 1998, clearly stated that pre-schooling was the first step in a lifelong learningprocess. Pre-schooling should provide care and stimulate development and learning, andmust be organised in such a way that parents can work full-time or study. In thisdocument, learning has the same status as development, which was an important shift inSwedish pre-schooling. The curriculum specifies the overall orientation and goals ofpre-schooling, but does not state how to achieve them. The municipalities and teachingstaff develop local plans covering the approaches and methods they find effective forattaining the goals. The national curriculum lists the following goals and guidelines:

respecting norms and values; fostering development and learning; encouraging the influence of children themselves; ensuring cooperation between pre-school and home; and fostering interaction among pre-school classes, compulsory schools and leisure-

time centres.

The pre-school curriculum emphasises the same basic values as the compulsoryschool curriculum, notably care and consideration towards others, solidarity, genderequality and tolerance. The curriculum also instructs staff to counteract stereotype sex-role behaviour in the children.

The pre-school curriculum proceeds from the assumption that the children arecompetent and constantly seeking to improve their understanding of the world aroundthem. The pre-school is expected to make the most of this thirst for knowledge and laythe foundations of a lifelong learning process. In sum, the curriculum states that pre-schools should be fun, secure and instructive for all children who attend them(Skolverket, 2001a).

2.2.5 A revised curriculum for schooling (the revised Lpo94)

A definite shift from coordination between the two school forms to integration wasformulated in the government Bill of 1995/96:206. The Bill sought to introduce a jointcurriculum based on the ideal of lifelong learning and a common understanding ofchildren, knowledge and learning. The BOSK Pre-school and School Commission wasappointed, and proposed a revised curriculum for pre-school class, activity-centres andcompulsory school (ages 6 to 16) (SOU 1997:21). The Commission incorporatedconceptual changes reflected in the substitution of the terms child and youth for pupil,pedagogue for all kinds of teachers, learning activities for teaching, and pedagogicalpractices for school.

Only a few of these terminology changes were made, primarily due to resistancefrom teachers’ unions that rejected the use of the term pedagogue to cover all teachers.The aim of the revised curriculum, namely to support the integration of pre-schoolclasses and leisure-time/activity centres in the school system, was clearly stated. Therevised formulations entailed a new view of children, knowledge and learning. Theconcept of teaching was replaced to a large extent, but not completely, by learning,reflecting the idea that children are active in their own learning processes, and needchallenging learning environments. Other new elements were learning to discuss, arguefor and negotiate, as well as performing and speaking in public. Alternative ways ofexpressing oneself and learning, other than through reading and writing, wereemphasised, such as the use of music, drama, body movement, drawing, painting andmulti-media. New concepts were added, such as learning through play, creativeactivities, experimental and investigating learning as well as care. Teacher became thecommon term for all kinds of teachers and instructors within the school system.Recreational instructors and pre-school teachers could now teach in the compulsoryschool system if they had proper qualifications in relation to content.


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2.2.6 The maximum fee reform of 2001

At the turn of the new millennium, pre-schooling was the last part of the general welfaresystem that allowed the municipalities to set their own fees, taking into account hours ofattendance and family income. In practice, this meant that families with similar incomespaid widely differing fees across municipalities. A government Bill proposed amaximum fee for all kinds of early childhood education and care, with the result thatpre-schooling costs have been the same in all municipalities since January 2002. Feeshave generally been lower for all families, including single parent-families. In social-democratic thinking this change is a centralising regulation and a major step towards ageneral welfare system (Martin Korpi, 2001). In local municipal boards, however, amajority of elected politicians voted in favour of a maximum fee, in spite of the costinvolved in the reform, yet another autonomous municipal decision being declines. Thereform was an important step towards a national educational school systemincorporating a universal pre-school for all children from the age of four, to beimplemented in January 2003. It can also be understood as an important step towardsequality, since the fee is no longer a decisive factor in determining parents’, especiallymothers’, working hours.

2.2.7 A universal pre-school

From January 2003 all Swedish children from age four will have the right to attend pre-schooling 525 hours per year at no cost. The right is limited to certain time periodscorresponding to the two semesters of compulsory schooling. The entitlement is seen asan important step towards a universal pre-school in the lifelong learning perspective.

2.2.8 A summary of actions required by the decision at the central level

The decision to integrate pre-schooling under the Ministry of Education and Science in1996 entailed a number of changes in terms of legislation and curricula. Only minorregulatory changes were made since the Ministry of Education and Science is goal-driven, and its goals are evaluated by the National Agency for Education. The mainresponsibility for evaluation, however, lies with the decentralised municipalities.

Following is a summary of the actions required by the decision at the centrallevel, discussed at length earlier.

January 1998 - The National Agency for Health and Welfare – Socialstyrelsen –handed over its responsibilities to the National Agency for Education –“Skolverket”.

January 1998 - Legislation on early childhood education and care was transferredfrom the Social Act into the Education Act.

January 1998 – Legislation made the pre-school class part of the compulsoryschool system, enabling children to have 10 years of schooling in the system, ofwhich nine years are compulsory (Bill 1997/98:6).

August 1998 - Pre-school teachers received the legal right to teach in thecompulsory school system under the new Education Act.

August 1998 - A curriculum for pre-schooling (Lpfö98) was launched bygovernment decree (Bill 1997/98:94).

August 1998 - A revised mandatory curriculum for schooling, which includes pre-school classes and leisure-time/activity centres, was introduced (the revisedLpo94).

July 2001 - Municipalities were obliged to provide places at pre-school or in ahome day-care nursery for at least three hours per day to children up to age fivewhose parents are unemployed. From January 1, 2002, this obligation has alsocovered children whose parents are on parental leave because of a youngersibling.

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In 2001 a Parliamentary Commission into the Education Act was appointed toconsider how to harmonise and integrate pre-school legislation with schoollegislation, focussing on strengthening children’s rights and making the Act moregoal-oriented.

August 2001 - A new teacher-training programme was launched. A Bill entitled“A Renewed Teacher Education” (Bill1999/2000:135) proposed a single teacherqualification, but with different lengths and contents chosen and designed bystudents themselves, after choosing to work with younger children aged 1-12 orolder children. Therefore the length of the education varies between 3 ½ - 5 yearsof education. All trainee teachers study together and do practice teaching inschools, pre-schools and leisure-time/activity centres for 1-1½ years.

January 2002 - A maximum fee for early childhood education and care serviceswas introduced for all families irrespective of income level.

January 2003 - A universal cost-free pre-school for children aged four and fivefor 525 hours per year is to be legislated.

2.3 The process and transition at the local level

2.3.1 Trends in transition at the local level

Martin Korpi stated in an interview that integration of pre-schooling and schoolingunder the ideal of lifelong learning would face considerable difficulties, conflict andresistance, unless early childhood education and care was made generally available toall families (Martin Korpi, 2001). In her view, the expansion of services was aprecondition for successful integration. It is difficult to generalise about the transitionprocesses in Sweden’s 289 highly decentralised municipalities. As mentioned above,most had already started to modify their political and administrational responsibilitiesand routines many years in advance of the formal ministerial integration. Municipalitiesusually had a pre-school and school board, or a board for children and the young. Theseboards drew up local pre-school and school plans, sometimes with highly specific goalsfor learning and care, and made financial decisions. The goals were determined inaccordance with the national curriculum but evaluated in relation to both national andlocal criteria.

As the municipalities became the employer of not only recreational instructorsand early childhood personnel but also schoolteachers, their autonomy for decisionsabout these different groups of teachers increased. They became autonomous in settingfinancial priorities and determining the levels of teacher’s salary. They could also makeautonomous decisions on the management of teachers and pedagogical practices.Another change brought by decentralisation was that each school or pre-school was freeto formulate and design its own pedagocial and methodological profile. In addition,families in the early 1990s were able to choose between pre-school or school, ratherthan being assigned to the closest institution available. In many municipalities familiespaid per hour of attendance in early childhood services. Now, for budgeting purposes,each individual pre-school of school can count on ever child in its district to provide aset portion of its revenue. (Under the maximum fee reform implemented in January2002, parents can choose a pre-school, but they pay a maximum fee irrespective of thehours of attendance.)

The local reforms, couched in the neo-liberal language of consumer choice, wereportrayed as ways to make the services more “consumer-friendly” and cost-effective.To some extent these reforms brought about healthy improvements in care andpedagogy, while also increasing the effectiveness of human and financial resources.Some pre-schools and schools began to cooperate in new ways as a part of theirconsumer “profile”, a result of local competition to persuade parents to enroll theirchildren. Such coordination strategies, as well as the transfer of six-year-olds from pre-schools into schools, were financially attractive in most municipalities.


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2.3.2 Resistance and processes at the local level

At the level of municipalities, the debate over integration focused on the conflictbetween pedagogical and economic issues. Another conflict concerned the professionalidentity of different groups. The conflicts and resistance took various forms. Whilesome municipalities viewed integration as a way of saving money, others saw itprimarily as a pedagogical reform aimed at providing better schooling as well as pre-schooling.

Some compulsory schoolteachers were still displeased over a perceived loss ofstatus after becoming employees of the municipalities, with pre-school and leisure-time/activity centre personnel as colleagues. Some teachers quitted, while others movedto new teaching positions in another municipal. The professional status of pre-schoolstaff, on the other hand, was already deflated as the pedagogical quality of their serviceswas compromised by growing class sizes during Sweden’s economic recession in the1990s. Both schooling and pre-schooling experienced severe financial cuts, even aschildren spent longer days in pre-schools and leisure-time/activity centres while theirparents worked longer hours to raise their incomes. Some high-profile pre-schoolpaedophilia scandals drove men away from the field, with the proportion of male staffdropping from 12 percent to under three percent today. Pre-school staff could look tointegration and the promise of a new curriculum to compensate for some of thisdamage, as well as potential new career paths within their field of work.

Academics were the staunchest critics of integration, voicing fears that pre-schoolpedagogy would be undermined. An extensive study in Norway had shown that littleintegration was actually taking place in schools offering pre-school classes (Haug,1992). Jointly drafted local documents had very little to do with actual practice, andHaug concluded that pre-school teachers and schoolteachers were merely performingpoor "imitations" of each other. Some, he contended, simply continued doing what theyalways had done. Swedish studies began to show the same tendencies, fuelling debateover the prospects for true integration given the status relations between the variousprofessional groups. (The results of evaluations are discussed in Section 2.4, onconsequences and impacts.)

Another source of opposition to integration was the Kommunförbundet (NationalUnion of Municipalities) – the central organisation of municipalities – which rejectedthe 1995 proposal of integration of pre-schooling, activity-centres and schooling (Bill1995/96 :206), citing financial reasons. They said the reform was desirable, but thatfunding for implementation had been insufficient. With the pre-school class reform of in1998, the municipalities were effectively forced to add another voluntary (for children)school year by constructing a pre-school class, without receiving additional financialsupport from the government. In actual fact, however, it was cheaper to have the six-year-olds in the pre-school class.

2.3.3 Evaluation and reflections on resistances and processes at the locallevel

An evaluation by the National Agency of Education in 1999 found less resistance inmunicipalities where pedagogical, professional and financial factors coalesced(Skolverket, 1999). Conflicts arose when financial factors overshadowed pedagogicalconsiderations, for example when pedagogues demanded more financial support thanwas available. Generally, however, during the economic recession, financial andpedagogical motivations both tended to favour the goal of integration. After thefinancial “golden days” of the 1970s and 1980s, professionals tried to be morefinancially responsible. Resistance was further minimised when responsibility forfinance, organisation, administration and actual pedagogical implementation wasdecentralised to the same individuals. Although documentation is lacking, it appearsthat decision-making in municipalities may have become more realistic and holistic.The relative success of integration, and diminishing resistance towards the reform, maybe attributable to the dual responsibility for financial administration and pedagogy. On

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the other hand, pre-schooling expanded more slowly than expected after the 1985 Bill,perhaps reflecting silent resistance by some municipalities. Evaluations of theintegration (discussed below in Section 2.4) do not reveal across-the-board success, butwidespread problems and difficulties. However, resistance or the lack thereof wasclearly specific to each municipality.

2.4 Consequences and impacts

2.4.1. Consequences and impacts at the local level

Today, the role of the National Agency for Education is to ensure that the nationalobjectives for pre-schooling and schooling are achieved. The agency supervises andevaluates performance, as well as initiating research. The state has made no specificextra funding available to the municipalities for the integration of pre-schooling andschooling, although some money has been available for some of the preliminary steps.Many of the municipalities needed extra financial support to implement the law of1995.

Local government has been primarily responsible for evaluating the consequencesand impacts of the integration. The National Agency for Education, however, carriedout an extensive evaluation, tracking 30 schools in 10 municipalities over three years(Skolverket, 1999, 2000, 2001c). The study found a preponderance of traditionalschool-oriented practices, with a traditional view of knowledge reflected in theorganisation of learning activities into set subjects and time periods, rather than aninterdisciplinary thematic or project-oriented organisation. Classrooms are not well-suited or laid out for different kinds of play activities, even in pre-school classes for six-year-olds, it says, lamenting that signs of a new understanding of learning remainscarce. The National Agency for Education concludes that most municipalities lackknowledge and understanding of the integration reform despite several informationcampaigns. They also lack knowledge of the content and aims of the revised curriculum.These shortcomings were found at the political and administrative level as well aswithin schools and among parents. The Agency faulted many municipalities for failingto conduct their own evaluations during the process.

The evaluation found little change in pedagogical practices at the 30 schoolsstudied. The most highly integrated work teams were found in municipalities where pre-school teachers, recreational instructors and schoolteachers had been working togetherfor longer periods and had specifically scheduled time to discuss their practicestogether. Such discussions have had a positive impact on the organisation and quality ofthe children’s learning practices.

Many schools attribute the lack of extensive pedagogical changes to a worseningfinancial situation leading to larger class sizes and smaller teaching staff. Some simplynote that change of such magnitude takes time.

2.4.2 State-initiated measures in response to the local evaluations

On the basis of the evaluations, the National Agency for Education proposed thefollowing state-initiated measures:

Harmonisation of the legislation on pre-schooling and schooling (A state initiatedinvestigation launched in 2001) (Commission, SOU 2002:121)

Implementation in relation to integration and the revised curriculum at the locallevel and in teacher education/training;

Developmental projects in municipalities, locally initiated but funded by theAgency, in order to implement the intentions of integration and goals of thecurriculum;

Research on pedagogical practice within schools; and


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Training of headmasters and teachers through dialogue.

The Agency proposed the following measures at the local level: In-service-training of all staff on equal terms; More time and support for discussion of practices within work teams; Supporting new staff – pre-school teachers and recreational instructors – in

schooling; Evaluations of school management and their competence; and Evaluation of integrated school forms – leisure-time/activity centres and pre-

school classes in compulsory schools.

2.4.3 Consequences and impacts of the integration described in research

Research into the integration has found that the various categories of teachers seechildren, knowledge and learning, as well as pedagogical practices, in different ways.Their habits and traditions are largely unconscious but are reflected in how theyorganise time, space and materials, talk to children, colleagues and parents, and analysechildren’s thoughts and behaviour. For example, some may view children as beingwholly dependent on adults, while others see them as competent, independent learners.Each category of teachers view their approach as “natural” and thus appropriate(Munkhammar, 2001). Research suggests that recreational instructors, pre-schoolteachers and day-care attendants need to readjust such pre-conceived notions in order tocooperate in integration practices or any process of change. Such processes generallyneed both specifically allocated time and some degree of supervision (Lenz Taguchi,2000; Munkhammar, 2001). An integrated practice can bring strong but opposingpedagogical "fields of power" face-to-face which must seek ways of harmonising theiractivities. To make matters worse, one tradition or “team” is often playing a “homegame” and enjoys much higher status (Munkhammar, 2001). In the Swedish context,integration between pre-schooling and schooling has been seen as the predominantly“female” culture of “pedagogy as care” in pre-schooling, merging with schooling as apredominantly and traditional “male” academic and subjectorganised culture (LenzTaguchi, 2000). It has parallels in the quest for more gender-equal and harmonisedworking conditions in the general world of work.

2.4.4 "Educationalisation" of pre-schooling or “pre-schoolisation” ofschooling?

Integration affected each municipality differently depending on local conditions. Forexample, some Swedish municipalities have small populations but cover very largegeographical areas, and the educational level of the staff can vary considerably. Inmunicipalities with a high educational level and a strong local economy, earlychildhood educators gained in status with a higher ratio of pre-school teachers and as aresult of integration with compulsory schooling. Most of these municipalities are quitesmall, and the increased communication between pre-schooling and schooling hashelped boost feelings of professional status.

A fear of the “educationalisation” of pre-school under integration was partiallyborne out by the findings of the National Agency for Education evaluations summarisedabove. Haug had already in 1992 shown, in an Norwegian study, that pre-schoolteachers in schooling tend to be more traditionally school-like than primaryschoolteachers themselves. For example, they were found to use textbooks more thancompulsory schoolteachers, and to be less likely to encourage the child’s own thinkingand experience. Haug concluded that pre-school teachers worked according to notionsof what a schoolteacher “is” rather than from knowledge of current school practices(Haug, 1992).

But while six-year-olds are now experiencing more school-like practices thanbefore the integration, it has probably not had the same effect on pre-schooling for one-

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to-five-year-olds. When six-year-olds were still in pre-schools, there was a strongtendency to “educationalise” the last year of pre-schooling (Pramling-Samuelsson &Mauritzson, 1997). The tradition to prepare children for schooling may no longerconcern pre-schooling.

Without detailed descriptions of the new school practices, it may seem as ifSwedish schooling has hardly changed at all. The reality, however, is that thecompulsory school system has undergone extensive change, due at least in part to thecoordination and integration process. The integration of leisure-time/activity centresinto schooling is probably the most important example. The nature and purpose of theschool has shifted from providing pure education to raising children to becomedemocratic citizens. In effect, rather than the “educationalisation” of pre-schooling,Sweden may be seeing the “pre-schoolisation” of schooling.

A typical Swedish school today is a place for both education and care, wheremany children between six and 12 spend up to 10 hours a day in the same buildings,while their parents work and travel back and forth to their jobs. As a result of theintegration, teachers work in teams with other personnel. In a sense, schools haveadapted to the realities of family life, taking on the role previously played by the pre-school of “substitute for the home” (Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi, 1994). With children intheir care for such long hours, educators are concerned with all aspects of theirdevelopment. Like pre-school teachers throughout the 20th century, today’sschoolteachers are concerned with all kinds of learning, including social, emotional andphysical (motor), and explore ways to integrate such thinking into their regular routine.During the transition some teachers complained about their changing roles, questioningtheir increased involvement with the children outside the classroom and teaching.Unlike pre-school teachers, they were used to being able to refer children with problemsor special needs to specialists or the school nurse or psychologist. Their contact andcooperation with parents was very limited and centred on academic performance.Today, attitudes have changed, at least in primary and secondary schooling. A definiteshift has occurred towards thinking of schooling as both a place for holistic learning andan important social arena, in which parental participation is required and expected.

In another shift, upper secondary schools in particular have strengthenedcollaboration with business and industry, facilitated by the information society. Thecurriculum for compulsory schooling clearly reflects the shifts towards fostering socialand psychological development, increasing cooperation with families and the outsideworld, and integrating new aspects of learning. At the same time, the new curriculumplaces a stronger emphasis on basic competence in reading, writing and mathematics.This duality may seem contradictory, but in fact it is a logical response to twin demandson modern education, and is appropriate to the holistic approach and lifelong learning.

The discussion below will further explore shifts in the concepts of education andlearning, which now seem to have free-floating borders (Lundgren, 2001; Martin Korpi,2001). Education increasingly takes place outside schools – through the mass media,“intelligent marketing”, design and advertising, and cultural activities, as well as via theInternet. The borders between the school, the home and the outside world have becomeblurred. Has the school become more private, merging with families, or is it becomingever more public, joining the outside world as a part of the global information society?Perhaps instead the family has become more public. As the age-old public/privatedichotomy loses effectiveness as a tool for understanding post-modern society, it isdifficult to say whether the school is dissolving as a public institution or the family as aprivate one.

2.5 Changes in the meaning of educational concepts

2.5.1 The gender context

Swedish society, in general, has become more child-centred. This trend is apparent infamily life, consumer patterns, advertising, and schooling and pre-schooling, as well asin legislation. The principle of shared custody of children following divorce is an


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example, where it is customary that children live every other week with their divorcedmother and father. Welfare policy has aimed at fostering equality by enabling women tohave children and work at the same time. About 78 percent of Swedish women withchildren under seven work, even though 46 percent of these work part-time; about 87percent of women with children aged 7-10 work, of whom 44 percent work part-time.The corresponding figures for Swedish fathers are 92 percent of those with childrenunder seven (of whom six percent work part-time), and 93 percent of those withchildren aged 7-10 (five percent part-time). The birth rate in Sweden is one of thehighest in Europe (Regeringskansliet, 1999).

The figures show that women are still taking primary responsibility for the care ofsmall children, even in a society long considered to be one of the world’s most gender-equal. Some researchers have claimed that women’s rights have been neglected infavour of the rights of children, who have become the main object of “emancipation”(Ohrlander, 1992; 1998). Two recent doctoral theses, one in political science and one inpsychology, claim that, since the 1970s, Swedish women have been in constant conflictbetween motherhood and work. Being a good mother meant placing one's child in pre-school for the best kind of social upbringing and education, but only for a limitednumber of hours per day. The “good mother” transforms rather easily into the “badmother” – putting her career ahead of her children – if the child attends for more thansix or seven hours per day. (This explains why so many working mothers are employedpart-time.) In contrast, men are considered “good fathers” for any sort of involvement intheir children’s upbringing, including picking them up at the pre-school at the end oftheir working day (Elvin-Nowak, 2001; Jansson, 2001). This issue has become topicalin the media, which since the 1970s has tended to be gender-neutral, glossing overgender conflicts or shrugging them off as the product of biological or genetic fact. As inother European countries and the United States, women in Sweden do not generallyhold high positions in private enterprise or in the academic world, and their salaries fallshort of men’s. The exception, often noted internationally, is in politics; half themembers of Parliament are women.

2.5.2 The view of childhood

Swedish culture has traditionally seen childhood as the “golden age” of life. Middle-class parents organise their lives around their children’s activities, and negotiate withthem over how to spend the parents’ annual five weeks of holidays. Pre-schools andschools make great efforts to give children influence and encourage their participation(Regeringskansliet, 1999). Children are increasingly expected to take responsibility fortheir own learning; to seek their own knowledge; to plan and organise their school dayand evaluate their own work and learning. Indeed, discussion in the media reflectsconcerns that children are being rushed into adulthood, as they increasingly act anddress like grown-ups. On the other hand, with Swedes marrying and having childrenlater and later in life, and many continuing studies into their late 20s or early 30s, theyseem to be enjoying “extended childhood”.

2.5.3 The view of child development

Mainstream developmental psychology is still the prevailing norm in educationalpractice. However, while developmental psychology states that very small children arefar more competent than previously thought, our understanding has shifted to a view ofdevelopment as a never-ending activity. The new findings of biological and brainresearch complement or even challenge the hegemony of developmental psychology inthe understanding of human development. Schooling has seen a clear shift fromteaching pupils as a group to focussing on the individual child’s learning processes.Teachers want to learn more about developmental psychology and individual learningstyles to help determine children’s levels of competence and to support them betterindividually. In practice, however, shrinking staff-to-child ratios hamper the shifttowards a more individual approach.

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Compared with other European school systems, the Swedish school system, bothbefore and since the integration of pre-schooling and compulsory schooling, has drawnconsistently on the same developmental and psychoanalytic theories and progressivelearning ideas. Psychoanalytic, developmental and constructivist learning theoriesprovide both the common ground for progress towards more successful integrationpedagogy in Sweden’s pre-schools and schools and for the evaluation of pre-schoolsand schools.

2.5.4 The view of learning

The pioneers of pre-schooling saw learning as involving the whole body and all of itssenses. They rejected terms such as knowledge and learning, preferring to talk aboutdifferent forms of innate creativity involving the entire child. Emotional, cognitive,social and motor creativity were innate skills that needed the right milieu to developfrom within. This milieu was first and foremost a homelike atmosphere, providing food,creative tools and toys and assuring health and hygiene. Freedom, play and creativityhave been seen as the natural vehicles to learning and development from within.Consequently play has been advocated as the natural alternative to standard schoolingmethods of reconstructing knowledge, facts and skills. The pre-school pioneers arguedthat such rational skills tied to cultural reproduction require mental development, whichshould by no means be forced on the child. In other words, over the 20th century theSwedish view of learning in pre-schooling became opposed to a traditional instrumentalview associated with schooling activities, including teaching skills such as writing,reading and mathematics (Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi, 1994). The field of earlychildhood pedagogy, by embracing the pre-school “golden age” of free play anddevelopment, set up a conflict between “natural” development and discipline, orbetween emotional, social and intellectual learning and the teaching of instrumentalskills and knowledge in schooling (Lenz Taguchi, 2000). Thus the integration of thetwo school forms in 1996 can be seen as the culmination of nearly a century of conflictbetween opposing ideologies concerning childhood, development, learning andchildren’s education.

2.5.5 The view of pre-schooling

During the 1990s, early childhood education and care services became the first choicefor most working and studying parents, even though some still preferred family daycare. Enrolling children from age one in full-day pre-schools has become generallyacceptable. What was once viewed as either a privilege of the wealthy for a few hours aday, or an institution for needy children and single mothers, has become, after 70 yearsof political vision and policy-making, an unquestionable right of children and families.Furthermore, parents now expect a holistic pedagogy that includes health care,nurturing and education for their pre-schoolers. In addition, acceptance of full-day pre-schooling and schooling has complemented the idea of lifelong learning and theunderstanding of education as encompassing far more than imparting basic skills suchas reading, writing and mathematics. As long as the function of education was seen asthe cultural reproduction of the Swedish society, little attention was focussed on theearly years. The notion of lifelong learning encouraged an expansion of the concept ofeducation. As the concept of learning began to encompass all aspects of life, and thewhole body and all its senses, not just certain intellectual and bodily skills, it “fit” betterwith the pre-school culture.

2.5.6 The understanding of pre-school pedagogy

A government report on “Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Sweden”summarised the basic principles of pre-school pedagogy -- laid down in the new pre-school curriculum and clearly underpinning the revised curriculum for children agedsix-16 (Lpo 1994/1998) - as follows:

Continuous learning and development in close interaction with the surroundings.Children learn the whole time and with all their senses.


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Play and theme-oriented work. Play is of fundamental importance for childrenand constitutes the basis for pre-school activity. Thinking, imagination, creativity,language and cooperation are developed. Through theme-oriented work, childrenhave more opportunities to understand inter-relationships and contexts and testtheir own theories about their surroundings.

Linkage to the child’s own prior experiences and knowledge. To learn somethingnew, children must be able to relate it to what they already know, haveexperienced and are interested in.

The pedagogical importance of care. Care is of pivotal importance to the child’ssense of well-being, and thus a precondition for development and learning. Carealso has a pedagogical element, especially for younger children, since it providesexperiences and knowledge through which they learn about themselves and thesurrounding world.

Development in groups. The child group is an asset for learning and development.Children need to experience joy together, and adults or toys cannot replace thechild’s need for other children. Children who are recognised and validated byadults as individuals function well in groups (Regeringskansliet, 1999, pp 50-51).

2.5.7 Conceptualising the integration

In the Swedish context, the integration of pre-schooling and schooling has beenproblematic conceptually. The term teaching was problematic in the pre-school contextbecause it implies an adult-child relationship in which the child is a more or less passivereceiver of knowledge imparted by the adult. Terms such as learning and learningprocesses, and references to the child and teacher as “co-constructors of culture andknowledge”, on the other hand, worked quite well in both the pre-school and theschooling contexts. Such formulations can produce new thinking and practices. “Old”concepts, especially regarding status, were problematic in terms of power relations. Theterms teaching and pupil in the integrated context seemed to favour the hegemony ofthe school culture. The view of lifelong learning as a right of the child, and the child asa constructor of knowledge in all aspects of life, demands new language that will in turnencourage creative thinking and actions.

2.6 Lessons and implications of Sweden’s integration

2.6.1 Continuous policy-making and/or national financial expediency?

Sweden’s integration of early childhood education and schooling, in terms of thecontext, the rationales and the process itself, can be seen as the fruit of continuouspolicy-making dating back as far as the 1930s. The succession of reforms seem to havebeen carried out according to a well thought-out logic, guided by a well-groundedpolitical vision. But as always, many other analyses are possible. Even though AlvaMyrdal, as one of the first influential women politicians and academics, advocated pre-school services as a way of “liberating” both women and children, her ideas did not bearfruit until other rationales for expanding pre-schooling emerged. The overwhelmingneed for women in the work force in the 1970s was the main impetus for the expansionof early childhood services in Sweden. The dual purpose of early childhood educationand care coincided with the dual purpose of women -- as members of the work forceand mothers. Swedish women have had better opportunities than any of theircounterparts elsewhere in Europe to combine the two roles, in terms of taking maternalleave and returning to their jobs afterward. The historian Kajsa Ohrlander pointed tothis as evidence of an increasingly feminised state (Ohrlander, 2000). From anotherfeminist perspective, however, the state can be seen to be merely “filling in” or takingover the responsibilities of fathers (Jansson, 2001). The idea of women’s “dual purpose”is not compatible with all feminist visions of equality.

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2.6.2 The dual purpose and pre-schooling as a middle-class project

The “dual purpose” of early childhood education and care has underlain a constantstruggle to legitimise pedagogical activities. Most unions and political parties thatsupported the expansion in the 1970s were not primarily seeking children’s education,but rather a collective “baby-sitting”. With the global information society demandingwell-educated populations, the educational purpose of early childhood services hasbegun to dominate public debate. Those who argued for the importance of educationand pedagogy all along have thus been vindicated by other needs and rationales.

Pre-schooling has been widely recognised as a middle-class project. It wasmiddle-class parents who enrolled their children in full-day services alongside childrenwith special needs and those of single mothers in the early and mid-1900s. The trustplaced by the middle class in these services was an important factor enabling today’sintegration and validating the idea of lifelong learning, leaving aside the question ofwhether this trust was motivated by visions of building a democratic society or offacilitating dual income families. Today, the middle-class families still believe theirchildren should be partly raised in the pre-school, and the financial motivation as wellas women’s equality remains as strong if not stronger.

One conclusion is that the twin purposes of early childhood services -- care andeducation – are equally important. Also, they both complement and substitute for thehome during a substantial part of the day. The services need to be seen as somethingthat families cannot entirely provide by themselves; that produce stimulating learningsituations and friendships as well as democratic, collective nurturing.

2.6.3 Central coordination vs. local diversity and autonomy

Contemporary Sweden is witnessing two simultaneous movements that can be seen ascomplementary or partly opposed to each other. One is towards a more coherent andintegrated educational system for all children of all ages and with all kinds of specialneeds or rights. The notion of lifelong learning strongly supports this movement. Theother is towards the provision of more diverse and heterogeneous educational servicesto families, children and youth in terms of content, learning styles, learningenvironment and even pedagogical philosophy. Despite the seeming contradiction, anastute logic underlies the two movements’ coexistence.

From the 1960s, Sweden’s system of schools and early childhood services washighly centralised, offering few or no alternatives to the individual family. Starting inthe mid-1980s, the system gradually became more decentralised, liberal andheterogeneous, giving families a choice of content, teaching styles and locations.“Semi-private” services, funded by the state but owned by companies or staff pools,have been allowed. Some municipalities today have more “semi-private” thanmunicipally owned services. In others there are none. The logic, on the one hand, is toharmonise and rationalise early childhood education and care in accordance withpolitical goals. On the other hand, actual responsibility for the services is decentralisedto municipalities and citizens. By devolving administrative and evaluativeresponsibilities to the people who actually perform the services, costs are kept very lowand a sense of choice and autonomy is achieved. Individuals and staff pools canimplement their own ideas, as long as they comply with the goals of the curriculum, andas long as the services are thoroughly evaluated. The Swedish approach to building anation of knowledge and education revolves around strong central visions and goals,matched by an abiding trust in local responsibility and initiative. Thus the system isboth centralised and decentralised, resisting traditional bipolar thinking, which isperhaps the best approach in today’s post-modern society.


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2.6.4 The right to universal pre-schooling in a post-modern, flexibleinformation society

Some observers may be surprised by the insistence that all children, not just children ofworking and studying parents, should have the right to pre-schooling. The world ofwork has changed, necessitating a rethink of the traditional employment-unemploymentdichotomy. People change jobs more frequently today, and are unemployed for shorterperiods. When parents become unemployed, their small children should not be removedfrom their ongoing education and social life in pre-school. To do so also impedes theparent’s search for new work. In January 2003, all four- and five-year-olds will beentitled to attend free pre-schooling for at least 525 hours per year. While attendance isvoluntary for the children, the provision of the services is mandatory for themunicipalities. Some politicians may have been surprised by the need to rethink thepurpose of pre-schooling. But changes in legislation were necessary at the nationallevel, since municipalities could perhaps not be expected to regulate the right toservices. The increased accessibility, as well as the maximum fee reform, both helped tofulfil the political aim of providing universal access to lifelong learning, which cannotbe compromised locally.

2.6.5 Summary of the implications of integration in Sweden

To summarise this case study of the integration of pre-schooling and schooling underthe auspices of Sweden’s Ministry of Education and Science, following are someconclusions from the Swedish experience:

Laws have been necessary to give children, women and other subordinate groupscertain rights.

Political policy-making has “married” issues of equality of women and childrenwith society’s need for a well-educated work force and lifelong learning, whilebuilding, maintaining or improving a welfare society for all citizens.

Early childhood education and care is simultaneously the right of all childrenduring the most learning-intensive period of life, and a set of services provided tofamilies as a high-quality complement to the home.

Issues concerning gender equality in the work force and the right to parental leavehave gone hand in hand with early childhood education and care issues.

Early childhood services can shift in emphasis from caring to a more pedagogicaland educational approach more readily than an educational pre-school service canbe integrated into a dual-purpose service. The reason for this lies in the relativestatus attached to care and pedagogy. It has thus been important to emphasise thatcare can also be understood as pedagogy and education, and education andpedagogy can also be understood as care from a lifelong learning anddevelopment perspective.

Goal-governed central regulation has co-existed with decentralisedresponsibilities for finance as well as pedagogy, so that services in somemunicipalities have developed in accordance with local conditions and thespecific needs of children and families.

More resources should be earmarked for documenting and evaluating theservices. Evaluation of the central goals by the National Agency for Educationshould be seen as a complement to local evaluations carried out by practitionersand local officials.

Support has been limited from the central level in terms of supervision and helpinterpreting the central goals – understanding lifelong learning, children’sindividual and group learning processes, the teacher’s role, teachers’ cooperativepractices, ethics, and how to formulate local documents.

At the local level the integration could have gone further if teachers and otherstaff had been given time to reflect on their current practices, and the similaritiesand differences in relation to centrally formulated goals for pre-schooling and

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schooling. The practitioners have stated that they need time to “take up” newconcepts – such as lifelong learning – and to formulate and reformulate what theyare doing and what they would like to be doing in relation to their interpretationof the central goals. The central level must take greater responsibility forfacilitating the exchange of ideas and practices, and discussion of newopportunities or specific difficulties.

Both the central and local level could have made examples of practices thatalready work out well and are in line with central goals, while consideringdifferent approaches to organisation and planning in local contexts, wherepreconditions vary widely.

What remains to be evaluated is the output of local interpretations of the centralgoals - how the main concepts and visions have been translated into practices andresults.

2.7 Update on the Commission for New Pre-school / School Law (SOU2002:121)

Based on the result of the evaluation carried out by the National Agency for Education(Skolverket, 2000; 2001a; 2001b and 2001c), a Commission for New Pre-school /School Law was set up to harmonise the legislations of pre-schooling and schooling.The Commission produced in early 2003 the following recommendations.

Pre-schooling shall be considered as a form of schooling starting from the ageof one. Pre-schooling shall be legislated as voluntary schooling, which 4-5year olds can attend, free of charge, 525 hours per year (3 hours a day). Pre-schooling, by law, shall be provided by municipalities. This is to recognisepre-schooling as the first step of lifelong learning. Accordingly, the followingrevisions shall be made to some of the existing concepts and be reflectedsystematically in legislative texts: The word, school, shall refer to pre-school, activity-centre as well as

compulsory school. The use of such words as teaching and pupil shall be embraced in both

pre-school and school contexts.1

It shall be legislated that the municipalities evaluate every year the quality ofall services for children from 1 to 19 years old in reference to the nationalgoals and curriculum.2

The purpose of these recommendations by the Commission was to harmonise differentforms of school and to enable the government, by law, to ensure that pre-schools andschools maintain the same quality throughout the country. But some of theserecommendations inherently imply the educationalisation of the meaning and practiceof pre-schooling. In other words, although there has been much political rhetoric for theimportance of pre-school pedagogy and the holistic view of childhood and learning, andfor the importing of these to schools, evaluation and research findings seem to showthat it is the schooling that has spearheaded pre-schooling, not the other way round. Pre-schoolisation has occurred to the extent that schools are now providing whole-day carefor school age children and that schoolteachers are encouraged to be concerned morewith the children’s socialisation issues (e.g., children’s well-being, and familyparticipation, etc.). But in the content and pedagogy of pre-schooling, much emphasis isnow placed on learning, which is a clear sign of educationalisation.

1 As noted in Point 2.2.5, these recommendations reflect the hegemony of the school culture.2 For pre-school education, this constitutes a major change, because its evaluation to date has been inreference to local plans only and not to the national curriculum.


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III. References

Interviews:

Barbara Martin Korpi, (Ämnesråd, Senior Adviser), 11 November 2001, in person(two hours) at the Ministry of Education and Science. (The interview was taped.)

Ulf. P. Lundgren, (Professor in Education and former Director-General of theNational Agency of Education), 20 December 2001, by telephone (1½ hours) fromUppsala University. (Note-taking.)

Publications (translated titles underlined):

Andersson, B.-E., 1989. Effects of public day-care: a longitudinal study. ChildDevelopment, 60, 857-66.

Andersson, B.-E., 1992. Effects of day-care on cognitive and socioeemotionalcompetence of thirteen-year-old Swedish schoolchildren. Child Development, 63, 20-36.

Andersson, B.-E. & Strander, K. 1998. 17-year-old Swedish teenagers look backon their time in day care. Paper presented at OMEP's World Congress, Copenhagen 10-17 August, 1998.

Bill 1984/85:209. “Förskola för alla barn” Pre-schooling for all children.Stockholm: Socialdepartementet

Bill 1990/91:115. “Om vissa skollagsfrågor m.m.” About certain school laws.Stockholm: Utbildningsdepartementet

Bill 1988/89:4. Om skolans utveckling och styrning. About the development andregulation of compulsory schooling.

Bill 1989/90:41. Om kommunalt huvudmannaskap. About the decentralisedregulation of municipalities.

Bill 1995/96:206. “Vissa skolfrågor m.m.”. Certain school questions. Stockholm:Utbildningsdepartementet.

Bill 1997/98:6. “Förskoleklass och andra skollagsfrågor”. The pre-school classand other school laws and questions, Stockholm, Utbildningsdepartementet.

Bill 1997/98:94. “Läroplan för det obligatoriska skolväsendet, förskoleklass ochfritidshemmet m.m.”. Curriculum for compulsory schooling, pre-school class andleisure-time centres. Stockholm: Utbildningsdepartementet.

Bill 1999/2000:135. “En förnyad lärarutbildning”. A renewed teacher education.Stockholm: Utbildningsdepartementet.

Calander, F., 1999. Från fritidens pedagog till hjälplärare, Fritidspedagogers ochlärares yrkesrelation i integrerade arbetslag. From leisure-time pedagogue to help-teacher. Leisure-time pedagogues and teachers relations in integrated work-teams.Uppsala: Acta.

Dahlberg, Krook & Williams-Olsson, 1973. Är förskolan och skolan godautvecklingsmiljöer? Fakta och debatt, nr 2. Are pre-schools and schools goodenvironments for child-development? In Facts and Debate no. 2. Stockholm:Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm, Pedagogiska institutionen.

Dahlberg, G. & Lenz Taguchi, H., 1994. Förskola och skola. Om två skildatraditioner och om visionen om en mötesplas. Pre-school and school. About twodifferent traditions and about the vision of a meeting-place. Stockholm: HLS Förlag.

Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. & Pence, A., 1999. Beyond Quality in Early ChildhoodEducation and Care. A Post-modern Perspective. London: Falmer Press.

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Elvin-Nowak, Y., 2001. I sällskap med skulden. Om den moderna mammansvardag. Albert Bonniers Förlag. Book based on: Accompanied by guilt. Modernmotherhood in the Swedish way. 1999. Doctoral thesis, The Institution of Psychology,Stockholm University.

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